The Babani family connects accredited and non-accredited investors with cash-flowing multifamily and commercial opportunities — sourced through proven acquisition and asset-management platforms and nurtured by a diverse trusted partnership network.
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Starting Point Capital
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Oak & Vine Capital
BBA, Marketing & International Business — University of Cincinnati & Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
Christian Babani brings more than two decades of commercial real estate acquisitions, private capital formation, and multi-division operations experience to his work with Rise48 Equity, one of the most active vertically integrated multifamily investment firms in the country. Founded by Zach Haptonstall, Bikran Sandhu CPA, and Robert Szewczyk, Rise48 Equity acquires, repositions, and manages multifamily assets across Phoenix, Dallas, Charlotte, and their surrounding markets — consistently ranked among the nation's leaders in rent growth, population growth, and employment expansion. In his role as Fund Manager and Capital Partner, Christian works alongside Vice President of Capital Formation Jeremy Dyer of Starting Point Capital and Director of Capital Formation Nick Stromwall of Oak & Vine Capital to connect accredited and non-accredited investors with cash-flowing multifamily opportunities designed to protect and grow wealth through passive income and long-term appreciation. His focus within the capital formation team extends beyond deal placement — he is actively engaged in building and expanding the team's reach, developing the next generation of fund managers and capital formation partners who will carry Rise48's investor relationships forward.
Through Babani Capital, the Babani family brings its own investor community into that work — serving as a direct access point for individuals and families seeking institutional-quality real estate investments across multifamily and commercial asset classes. Babani Capital is the evolution of Babani Investments, built to reflect the full scope of the family's partnerships, platforms, and conviction: that capital deployed with purpose — across diverse communities, markets, and ecosystems — produces results that endure well beyond the hold period.
He also built Babani Capital's own direct lending platform, offering financing solutions across fix and flip, DSCR rental, bridge, ground-up construction, and commercial lending — extending his ability to meet real estate investors and developers at every stage of the capital stack.
His background spans large-scale commercial development pipelines, international acquisition and development projects, federal public-private infrastructure partnerships, and coalition-building at the national level — including a founding role in launching the bipartisan, bicameral Smart Cities Caucus in the 115th United States Congress, working across several dozen members of the House and Senate to align capital, technology, and infrastructure priorities at scale.
His work has never been confined to a single domain. Christian is a diver, spear fisherman, and treasure hunter who has studied coral reef restoration and coastal resiliency firsthand across twenty islands in the Caribbean, building partnerships with practitioners, educators, administrators, and property owners both in the United States and abroad to establish working hubs for restoration ecology and restorative aquaculture. That breadth — across ecosystems, cultures, capital structures, and communities — reflects a consistent operating philosophy: that the most durable investments are the ones that create value for every stakeholder they touch.
His operating experience includes serving as Fractional Chief Operating Officer for a five-division real estate platform spanning modular and container-based infrastructure development, where he built organizational systems, managed complex stakeholder relationships, and moved capital-intensive projects from concept to execution across diverse markets.
What ties it all together is a life spent performing, serving, and connecting. As a young professional, Christian was simultaneously a working musician whose family band toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd and shared stages with the Neville Brothers, Peter Frampton, Dr. John, Buddy Guy, Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels, and Zakk Wylde — a certified ballroom dance instructor, an international student orientation leader, and a record-setting fundraiser for the Special Olympics and numerous other celebrated organizations. Long before he was building capital relationships, he was building community — and that has never changed.
Babani Capital deliberately mirrors Starting Point Capital's approach — presenting Rise48's combined track record as the credibility backbone, rather than building a separate deal-history portfolio of its own.
| Platform | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rise48 Equity | Sponsor / Operator | Founded by Zach Haptonstall, Bikran Sandhu CPA, and Robert Szewczyk. Acquires, repositions, and manages multifamily assets across Phoenix, Dallas, and Charlotte. Jeremy Dyer leads capital formation as VP of Capital Formation. |
| Babani Capital | Christian Babani — Fund Manager & Capital Partner | Direct access point for Christian's investor community into Rise48 opportunities. Christian serves as Co-Manager alongside Jeremy Dyer on qualifying capital-formation vehicles, structured with counsel on a deal-by-deal basis. |
| Starting Point Capital | Jeremy Dyer — Founder & VP of Capital Formation | Runs its own feeder funds into Rise48 deals with enhanced investor-level terms; Jeremy and Christian serve as Co-Managers together on qualifying vehicles. |
| Oak & Vine Capital | Nick Stromwall — Director of Capital Formation | Partnered with Rise48 for capital formation; also holds a separate portfolio of directly-owned assets. |
A history of successful acquisitions and disciplined value-add execution across the DFW market. Figures below reflect closed, completed transactions.
| Investment | Units | Purchase | Equity Raised | Hold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rise Melrose | 96 | $18.4M | $6.0M | 14.0 mo |
| Scottsdale 5th | 59 | $6.6M | $2.6M | 34.0 mo |
| Rise on Thomas | 100 | $14.2M | $5.3M | 15.0 mo |
| Rise on Peoria | 164 | $28.7M | $9.1M | 14.0 mo |
| Rise Downtown Mesa | 103 | $16.5M | $6.1M | 14.0 mo |
| Rise Metro | 160 | $24.3M | $9.2M | 14.0 mo |
| Paseo 51 | 116 | $15.5M | $4.9M | 15.0 mo |
| Villa Serena | 137 | $17.6M | $5.8M | 27.0 mo |
| Rise on McDowell | 76 | $6.9M | $3.7M | 27.0 mo |
| District Flats | 112 | $13.0M | $5.2M | 13.5 mo |
| Silver Oaks | 36 | $3.5M | $1.3M | 18.0 mo |
| Total | 1,159 | $165.1M | $59.0M | — |
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Rise48 DFW-specific infrastructure: 3,613 units across DFW, 15 properties, 80+ local full-time W-2 employees.
General Rise48 content and education — not tied to any specific offering.
Everything above describes Christian's specific role within the Rise48 Equity partnership, and Rise48's own track record as an operator. Everything below is different: Babani Capital's own, independently operated financing programs, its Baba Global Exports venture, and Christian's other industries and interests. These are separate businesses with separate track records — Rise48 Equity has no role in, affiliation with, or responsibility for any of it.
Real-estate financing structured around the opportunity, the people, and the outcome — with clarity from first conversation to closing. This is Babani Capital's own financing platform, sourced through its own nationwide lending partners and entirely separate from the Rise48 partnership above.
The goal isn't simply to close a loan. It's to help the right people make the right moves — and win together.
Answer a few quick questions and we'll follow up personally — no obligation.
There is no shortage of food on this planet. We have plenty. You need some.
Real food should not be a luxury good. Baba Global Exports exists to close the distance between the farmers growing real food and the families who need it — starting in the Dominican Republic and built to expand. We are building the logistics backbone — air freight today, ocean and rail as we scale — that lets local farmer networks feed more people, in more places, more reliably than the current system allows.
Baba Global Exports puts buyers across North America, Europe, and the Caribbean in direct contact with fresh produce and dry goods sourced through our trade partner network in the Dominican Republic. Our partners have run an export operation continuously for more than two decades.
Away from the deal table, Christian is a diver, spear fisherman, and treasure hunter who has studied coral reef restoration and coastal resiliency firsthand across twenty islands in the Caribbean — building partnerships with practitioners, educators, and property owners in the U.S. and abroad to establish working hubs for restoration ecology and restorative aquaculture. He is equally at home underwater as he is in a boardroom.
As a young professional, Christian was simultaneously a working musician whose family band toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd and shared stages with the Neville Brothers, Peter Frampton, Dr. John, Buddy Guy, Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels, and Zakk Wylde — a certified ballroom dance instructor, an international student orientation leader, and a record-setting fundraiser for the Special Olympics and numerous other celebrated organizations. Long before he was building capital relationships, he was building community — and that has never changed.
Babani Capital carries the Babani family name forward — Christian and his three brothers, sister, and half-sisters. It's a name built on that same sense of family first, which is exactly the standard the firm holds itself to with every investor it works with.
Baba Restoration Ecology — a forthcoming Babani Holdings venture dedicated to coral reef restoration and coastal resiliency work.
Book a call directly, or reach out by phone or email — we respond personally to every inquiry.
